|
It was 1:30 in the morning, and the house was pitch black… Suddenly, our bedroom door flew open. Jagger raced into our room, screaming at the top of his lungs. My heart was pounding out of my chest. Courtney and I were completely shaken because we didn't even hear the baby gate or our bedroom door open. And just like that, the next chapter of little Jagger's sleep training began… We thought we were out of the woods after a couple of good nights. When the midnight screaming started up again, we found a check-in tool that worked like magic for about two weeks. I'd walk him back to his room, tell him, “Daddy's going to be back in a little bit,” and leave while he fell asleep. Then, Jagger cracked the code… I tucked him in and gave him my usual line. He sat straight up in bed, wrapped his tiny hand around mine, looked me dead in the eyes, and said, “Come too. Come too!”
Rats… Part of me was proud of the little guy for problem-solving on the fly. The other part of me realized our sleep plan was officially in disarray. When you're exhausted at 1:30 AM, it's easy to throw your hands up and say, “This stuff isn't working.” The reason I'm sharing this with you is because I've seen people do the exact same thing with their health for the past 23 years. Whether it's meal planning, a bedtime routine, lifting weights, or getting daily steps, most people try a new strategy once or twice. If they're lucky, they try a third time, hit a wall, throw their hands up, and say, “Oh, well.” If you truly understood how vital healthy sleep is, or any of the Five Dominoes, you wouldn't stop at the first, third, or tenth attempt. You'd treat it like a puzzle. When the old trick stops working, you adjust your approach until you solve it. With a two-year-old, you can't just lecture them about stress and sleep. You have to give them tangible tactics. First, I taught him how to calm his nervous system by “smelling the roses and blowing out the candles.” Even though tactically we want purely nasal breathing, this works wonders for a toddler. Second, I taught him how to “flip the channel” on his active little mind. We treat his pillow like a TV remote. When he's scared of “spookies” in the dark, he physically flips his pillow over to change the channel in his head and puts on Danny Go! instead. He's not back to being the total sleep champion he usually is, but he's learning to self-soothe. We solved the puzzle for now, and the whole house is sleeping again. Soon enough, he'll grow, the puzzle will change, and our strategy will have to evolve right along with him. Take an honest look at your own Five Dominoes today: Breathing, Water, Sleep, Movement, and Eating. Ask yourself two simple questions: Where did you give up prematurely after only one or two tries? And which single domino would give you the highest ROI if you went back and solved the puzzle today?
PS: Even a guy with degrees in Engineering and Behavioral Economics gets outfoxed by a toddler at 1:30 AM. Next week, I wouldn't be surprised if Jagger starts negotiating his bedtime ROI using Kona and a piece of cheese. |
